F1 analysis, especially on race weekends. My non-F1 blog can be found at http://creditfunch.blogspot.com/ as can archives of earlier posts (click on the Formula 1 link on the right hand side of the Credit Funch blog).

Auto Motor und Sport have ranked the drivers in the 2009 championship. Their order is reporduced below - for details visit the link above. Bracketed drivers were not included in the ranking (I've brought them into their would-be place) since they competed in less than 1/3 of the season:

Personally, I couldn't agree with their assesment. With Luca Badoer taking last place, my ranking of the other 24 is as follows:

1. Lewis Hamilton (dragged his awful car to the front, outshining his teammate throughout)2. Nico Rosberg (comprehensively better than his teammate, he almost dragged Williams to 5th in constructors, alone)

3. Jenson Button (superb, unbeatable with best car, weak without it)

4. Sebastian Vettel (superb in Malaysia and Silverstone, he failed to take advantage of the best car for 60% of the season)5. Rubens Barrichello (narrrowly outdriven by teammate when car was at its best, he returned the favour when times were tougher)6. Kimi Räikkönen (string of podiums mid-season ended by Ferrari's development switch to 2010 car)7. Felipe Massa (season was just coming good when it was horrifically cut short)8. Kamui Kobayashi (superb in Abu Dhabi, dangerous in Interlagos, clearly the best newcomer)9. Robert Kubica (some excellent late-season drives camouflaged a bad year)10. Jarno Trulli (consistently slightly better than his teammate, with pole in Bahrain the highlight)11. Timo Glock (drives in Malaysia and Singapore in poor car worth mention, but he didn't take advantage of the good car he had until Spain).12. Mark Webber (only took advantage of a superb car on two occassions)13. Fernando Alonso (Renault gave up developing their car, but Fernando was outshone by Hamilton and Raikkonen in similar situations)14. Sebastien Buemi (points on debut and at finale, made the most of his car and saw off a more experienced teammate - as Rubens Barrichello did in 1993).15. Nick Heidfeld (drove very well in Malaysia, otherwise hardly noticeable)16. Giancarlo Fisichella (superb in Belgium, otherwise mediocre)17. Adrian Sutil (a few good races couldn't disguise a poor year)18. Heikki Kovaleinen (comprehensibly outdriven by his teammate, like most drivers below)19. Tonio Liuzzi (never outshone his teammate, but which replacement did?)20. Romain Grosjean (more consistent than his predecessor, but not spectacular)21. Nelson Piquet jnr22. Jaime Alguersuari (in the course of a few races, he was nearly matching his teammate)23. Sebastien Bourdais24. Kazuki Nakajima (His team-mate finished the season with more points than any Toyota powered driver, yet Kazuki didn't manage a single point).25. Luca Badoer